Low download speed

C

CapriAnupam

Guide
If this thread is not in the correct forum, please move it to the correct one please. I looked at names of subforums, and I thought this one best to post about my issue. Here goes.

Hi guys, need your help. Since a few days, I have been experiencing low internet speed, which my ISP is not acknowledging, and I want to find the information, and reasons for it, so that I can put up my case with them with correct technical information.

I have a 32-bit Windows 10 PC, with the latest updates.

My internet plan is of 25 mpbs. The connection is received via fiber cable, on a device supplied by the ISP, from which an ethernet cable connects to the internet port of my wifi router (Linksys E1200). I connect my desktop to the wifi router via another cable. I have two android smartphones, and a laptop, which connect to the internet via the wifi connection from the wifi router.

Static IP is provided by the ISP, the setting of which is done in the wifi router.

The current internet plan has been provided to me since eight months from the ISP, with increased price. Before that, we had a slower plan with a reduced price... I didn't face any issues with the speed with any earlier plans. I have been with this ISP since many years now, 8 or more.

Since the beginning of the current plan, I did not face any problems with the speed... just only recently since about a week or so.

First of all... if the plan is 25 mbps... is it 25 Mbps, or mbps, or what? How is it written, and what unit is it?

Since the plan is of 25 Mbps, from what I have read, I should be getting speed of 1/10th, that is, upto 2.5 Mbps, right? Earlier, I used to get such download speed only... I have seen download speeds of over 2 MB/s, or around 1900 KB/s.

But, the download speed that I am getting is really low nowadays, and different for files from different sites. It's quite random. I am really confused as to why this is happening.

I took a test on speedtest.net, just before writing this, and the results I got are:
Download speed: 5.47 Mbps
Upload speed: 24.93 Mbps

The result for download speed is quite random on speedtest too. Sometimes I have got result as 3 Mbps, and other times as around 2.5 Mbps. I don't know how it came so high today. I just took another test, and the download speed was around 8 Mbps, with upload speed remaining the same.. around 25 Mbps.

Anyways, for most of the files that I have been downloading, I am getting speed in the range of 200 KB/s to 600-700 KB/s. Means, sometimes the speed will be around 300 KB/s, or 400 KB/s, or 700 KB/s, etc.

These download speeds are definitely very low, and very random.

However, there are certain sites, from which if I download, I get quite high speeds... like if I download Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, from:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/malicious-software-removal-tool-details.aspx
or, Avast Free offline setup from:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=197955.0
I get really good speed.

Like, I just downloaded from above two sites, and I got download speed ranging from 1.5 MB/s to 2.4 MB/s, which is what the desired and normal speed should be.

When I downloaded KVIrc from here:
https://kvirc.d00p.de/
I got download speed of around 700-800 KB/s. With other files too that I download, I mostly get speed in this same range, which is really low than normal. And I keep downloading a lot of files, as I have a lot of collection of free software, and I keep downloading their updated versions. Before this issue started, I didn't face any such speed problems with different files from different sites. It was consistent desired speed.

Another thing that I should say here is that these speeds are using Ninja Download Manager free, with Firefox latest version. I installed Ninja just now, because I wanted to see what happens if I used a different download manager.

I was earlier using Free Download Manager, and with it, I was getting even lower speeds than these. I should say, around half of what I am getting with Ninja Download Manager. I don't remember those speeds now, but if need be, I can install Free Download Manager again, and note the speeds. FDM would be my choice of download manager, and I have been using it for years without any such problem.

However, before this issue started, I was getting good download speed with Free Download Manager too, and it was consistent desired speed with no such different speeds for different files, from different sites. So, FDM behaved great before, why the difference now?

On Android phones, the speeds are even worse. If I download any video or audio on Whatsapp, it downloads at a really slow speed, which was not the case earlier. Earlier, the video would download smoothly, at a really good speed. And now, the download will start fine, and then in a few seconds, it will like crawl at a really slow speed, and downloads over a great amount of time.. even for size as low as 2 MB.

To see, if wifi router or my antivirus somehow were the issue, I even uninstalled Avast Free from my laptop, and connected the internet cable directly to the laptop, but the result is the same as I stated above.... like different download speeds for different files from different sites.

So, the wifi router is not the issue, nor is the issue with antivirus, or, with my PC, or laptop, since on both, the speed results are the same.

I had complained to my ISP a few days ago, and they had sent a guy to my home. At that time too, he took the speedtest.net test, and the result was 2.5 Mbps for download, and around 24 Mbps for upload.
But, the actual download speed for different files were in the range of 300 KB/s to 800 KB/s... which is really less than what I should be receiving.

I had called the ISP that time in front of that guy, to complain about the above speed, and they are telling me that you will get such speeds only at this plan.. which is really not true. I argued with them, that I have got speeds of around 1500-1900-2000 KB/s on this same plan earlier.. but the guy on the phone, is not accepting this. He says that this isn't a lease line that you will get such speeds. I told him that I have got such speeds and seen such speeds, but he is not accepting it. I then tried to talk to other guy who is more experienced, and asked him why I am getting such random speeds... and he says that the download speed will depend on the server where you are getting it from. Clearly, he too doesn't have the technical knowledge, and is trying to misguide me.

Even if I go by what he says, download speeds of 300 KB/s - 800 KB/s on a 25 Mbps plan is really very low. And I have been using internet for a long time now, and I consider myself a guy with a fairly above average technical knowledge, and I have seen consistent download speeds for whatever file I downloaded from whatever site, since all these years of using internet.

Like, when I had a 512 Kbps plan, I would consistently get speed of around 55-60 KB/s for whatever file I downloaded from whichever site.

Even 1.5 Mbps download speed on current plan would be acceptable for me... but I am not even getting that.

So, please guide me as to how should I approach with this issue to the ISP.

First, what is the download speed that I should be getting?
Second, why I am getting such random speeds, and also why such difference in speeds for downloading from different sites? Like, high speed for download from Avast and Microsoft, but much lower speeds for other sites. And I download a lot of software, so, I know for sure of these random speeds.
Also, why a higher speed with Ninja Download Manager, than Free Download Manager, for the same files?
Earlier I never faced any such speed problem with Free Download Manager, and I have been using it for years now. So, why such issue now.

Also, please help me with the terminology, like I am getting speed of 300 KB/s... so is the unit kilobits, or kilobytes, and please also tell the conversion rate. This technical information will help me argue better with the ISP guys. Like, I know that I should be getting 2.5 MB/s download on the current plan, but I want to be sure with information from you expert guys.

I am really confused by all this. So, any guidance would be really helpful, based on which I can approach my ISP. Clearly, their guys don't have much technical knowledge, based on what they say. Based on guidance from here, I would first put my argument to them, and try to make them understand, and if they don't, then I will take this matter with the owner of the ISP.

I have a feeling that the problem is really from the ISP side, but all this randomness is really confusing me. That's why I need help.

I have a person in front of my house, who uses the same plan from the same ISP, and he too has been complaining of low speeds since a few days. He mainly uses YouTube, and he says that YouTube didn't use to buffer at all before, but it is doing nowadays, and in general, he too feels that the speed is low nowadays.

Sorry for a really long post.

Thank you in advance for any help, guidance and information.
 
Why write such a long post and not apparently even mention your ISP... ??? (sorry, I just skimmed over the post and maybe only saw you say "my ISP" over and over again). Mention it so maybe someone who might have some info can post?

Like perhaps there is some routing issue with your ISP's backend provider or whatever.

Do you know about posting "traceroute" (or "tracert" in Windows I believe) results for various websites to see if that is the issue?

Finally, you can hope this issue gets resolved in a few days, even though you mention the issue already has been occurring for a few days?[DOUBLEPOST=1488284998][/DOUBLEPOST]You are right about the speed units... ISPs mention speeds in "mega bits" per second... and speed test websites and some software either mention same unit or sometimes in "mega bytes" or "kilo bytes" or "kilo bits" per second. So yes, to keep it easy to calculate between these, a round division by 10 is OK. So 25 Mbps is "theoretically" up to 2.5 MB/s and getting 2 MB/s is acceptable.
 
Sorry... yes, should have mentioned the ISP name. It's a local one though, named Khetan, in Indore. But, it has expanded its business in all these years a lot, over here in Indore. It gives good plans at cheap prices, that is why I have stuck with it. And their service has improved considerably over the years, in terms of downtime.

The current plan of 25 Mbps is available at 600/- with a 40 GB FAP, which is great. I was getting desired speed till now, but not since a few days.

I don't think this issue will be solved on its own, as I suspect this to be some kind of problem at their end, or somewhere. I don't think it's something to do with my setup, because the person in front of me is also facing the same low speed issue.

The frustrating thing is that they are not even ready to accept that the current download speed that I am getting is not what I should be getting. They are giving me stupid fundas about the low speed, and trying to justify it, rather than acknowledge that there is indeed a problem, and working for it.

It's really frustrating and angers me a lot, and I have had quite an argument with the guy on the phone, who says ridiculous things like a fool.

How do I perform tracert?
 
First of all, lets eliminate the reasons for doubt -

Speedtest is a measure to check the max speed, you need to connect to a US server to get an actual speed idea. I have a friend whose ISP has a speedtest on premise, gives 100Mbps - he goes crazy, I tell him its not so.. connect to USA server and show actual speeds.

Now, as to why you get high speeds, only on certain downloads? Your ISP is caching them using maybe squid.

Finally, as to why you are getting lower speeds - first speak to the ISP and confirm its a fixed plan, not upto plan, where the bandwidth is shared. If it's a fixed plan, you should be entitled to 25 Mbps,or he is having an issue with billing - it happens. Finally, connect a computer directly to the LAN and see.

If its a shared plan, as some ISPs do give, then it depends on total bandwidth and shared users.
 
CapriAnupam said:
Sorry... yes, should have mentioned the ISP name. It's a local one though, named Khetan, in Indore. But, it has expanded its business in all these years a lot, over here in Indore. It gives good plans at cheap prices, that is why I have stuck with it. And their service has improved considerably over the years, in terms of downtime.

The current plan of 25 Mbps is available at 600/- with a 40 GB FAP, which is great. I was getting desired speed till now, but not since a few days.

I don't think this issue will be solved on its own, as I suspect this to be some kind of problem at their end, or somewhere. I don't think it's something to do with my setup, because the person in front of me is also facing the same low speed issue.

The frustrating thing is that they are not even ready to accept that the current download speed that I am getting is not what I should be getting. They are giving me stupid fundas about the low speed, and trying to justify it, rather than acknowledge that there is indeed a problem, and working for it.

It's really frustrating and angers me a lot, and I have had quite an argument with the guy on the phone, who says ridiculous things like a fool.

How do I perform tracert?
Click to expand...

If another user is also facing the same issue, then mostly the issue is a ISP issue and not yours. If you are not getting 25 mbps - this is 25 Mbps or 25 mbps - it just means 25 megabits per second. bits to bytes means divide by 8 - so it will become some 3MBps.

Somewhere there is a limiter - artificial and quite possible due to some error. Maybe they are all on a 100 mbps link - with more downloads than uploads, dl will be choked.
 
Keep in mind you are downloading lot of free softwares. The download servers for free softwares will not provide you with top notch speeds as compared to other paid software websites. I myself have experienced low speeds while downloading free softwares from their servers. If you want to test this theory, try downloading trial version of softwares from big brands. See what speeds you are getting.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Well, for the 25 Mbps plan, what is the ideal download speed I should be getting?

And I think it is a fixed plan.

Also, as I have already posted, until now, I used to get excellent download speed, in accordance with the plan... irrespective of whether I was downloading a free software or not. Only since a few days, I am getting such crap speeds, and that too such random speeds.

I don't buy this theory of free software having less download speed. I have been downloading free software over several years now, and I never faced such problem. I have always got the desired speed. It is only now that I am getting such problem of low download speed.

I connected the modem directly to the PC, and there was only a minor difference in download speed of maybe 100 KB/s or so. Like with the wifi router connected, I was getting 300 KB/s for one file, and 700-800 KB/s for another. Without the wifi router, I got around 400 KB/s for the same file, and around 1 MB/s for the other. These speeds are still way below the ideal download speed I should be getting.

Plus, the download speed is even worse on my smartphone. Earlier, any audio or video on whatsapp used to download so smoothly and so fast. And now, it downloads like it's crawling.

Something somewhere is definitely an issue at ISP side, but they aren't acknowledging it, and that's what frustrates and angers me a lot.
 
25Mbps is to be read as 25 Mega Bits Per Second...
This theoretically translates to 25/8= 3.125 Mega Bytes Per Second..
So at max you could see 3MB/s download speeds, but getting 600KB/s constantly is very low..
Also do note that most ISP's connections take a hit during weekends due to more people accessing the internet at the same time.. It is called contention ratio.. You can google more about it..

I too had similar issues with my ISP (ACT fibrenet) here in Bangalore.. Their response was that the advertised 50Mbps speeds are only with client and their servers.. They don't guarantee such speeds with other servers like google, facebook etc..
:banghead:
I thought someone needs to explain these guys about the "Internet"..
 
Thank you for the explanation. I used to get good speed earlier, whether it was weekday or weekend. But not nowadays.

And really true.. you feel like beating your head against the wall when you hear responses like that from the ISP guys. They talk like idiots! It's really amazing that they are running an ISP and their technical knowledge is like a noob.. even worse.

When I said that I have seen such high speeds in past months, they are not ready to accept it. They tell me that this is broadband, not a lease line that I should experience such high speeds. What idiots! And it's really frustrating when they talk like this, because whatever you say, they negate it... they think we are fools, and they are the ones with all the knowledge. It's really like beating your head against a wall.

So, how was your issue solved @swagatrath ?

I am thinking that I will complain again and see what they say. Otherwise, I might have to go to their office, and talk with the owner. I am thinking of taking the guy who lives in front of me, as he is also experiencing slow speeds.
I hope atleast the owner has some sense in him, otherwise things will be difficult.
 
^^ Issue was neither acknowledged nor fixed.. I just learnt to live with it since there is no other option for me.. This is the only good ISP in my area among others..
Waiting eagerly for Jio fiber right now and hoping they provide better service than this..
 
CapriAnupam said:
Thank you for the replies :).

What is traffic shaping?
Click to expand...

Traffic shaping is like how with Jio you are getting good speeds for Youtube/Jio services, but not so great for others. Its shaping the internet traffic flow so that you get better speeds on some services. This is not however true shaping, youtube and these services get these high speeds because of peering.
 
Maybe your ISP has peering arrangements with Google, Microsoft, Akamai etc. to give you higher speeds in those servers. Excitel is advertising their 20 mbps normal + 20 mbps peering plans as 40 mbps plans so check if your ISP is doing the same by giving you 5 mbps normal speed and 20 mbps peering speed and advertising it as 25 mbps.
 
In a bizzare case with my ISP at a factory location, we use pfsense to monitor the lines and its been extremely accurate. We were facing issues with the internet and when we mentioned the issue with packet loss, he said I don't understand your packet loss and BS figures. I called up the main office, asked to speak to the boss and told him that this is what was told to me. Either your guy is lying, or I am an idiot who is wasting my time with quality graphs.

Matter got solved to a great extent later. This conversation took place on my way from Delhi to Mumbai, as I was on the aerobridge boarding the plane :p
 
I have a different take/opinion on the speeds being mentioned/calculated:

Some ISPs calculate/configure their speeds slightly differently and do not follow "1024 bits equals 1 KB" so if they claim 25 mbps it's actually 25,000,000 bits per second and not 26,214,400 bits per second (25 x 1024 x 1024) and on top of that the hardware/software takes "raw data" and not "user data" meaning there is some "overhead" with every portion (packet) of data transferred there is additional background info being sent, so instead of "dividing by 8" (because it's 8 bits per byte) you should divide by 10.

Thus: 25,000,000 divided by 1024 again divided by 1024 and again divided by 10 and you arrive at about 2.4 MB/s (megabytes per second) of real data speeds being transferred and that too would be the "ideal" as you used the term. Realistically, you should be happy with getting around 2 MB/s if/when your speed issue is resolved.
 
The simple 25 divided by 8 to get around 3.125 MB/s is more "theoretical" as people have mentioned, meaning it's a fairy tale :D
 
vishalrao said:
I have a different take/opinion on the speeds being mentioned/calculated:

Some ISPs calculate/configure their speeds slightly differently and do not follow "1024 bits equals 1 KB" so if they claim 25 mbps it's actually 25,000,000 bits per second and not 26,214,400 bits per second (25 x 1024 x 1024) and on top of that the hardware/software takes "raw data" and not "user data" meaning there is some "overhead" with every portion (packet) of data transferred there is additional background info being sent, so instead of "dividing by 8" (because it's 8 bits per byte) you should divide by 10.

Thus: 25,000,000 divided by 1024 again divided by 1024 and again divided by 10 and you arrive at about 2.4 MB/s (megabytes per second) of real data speeds being transferred and that too would be the "ideal" as you used the term. Realistically, you should be happy with getting around 2 MB/s if/when your speed issue is resolved.
Click to expand...

My ISP and other ISPs use the divide by 8 term only. And I mean all my ISPs - some 10 of them.
 
When I download with utorrent on my home ISP - 10 mbps, I get some 1.2 MBps of speed. Ditto for direct downloads.

What you mentioned is for HDDs. Not internet speeds to my knowledge.
 
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